


one more chance; one more breath

by LailaLiquorice



Series: I'll hide you in my poetry { parrlyn oneshots } [2]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Anne being a cuddly bean, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hey Cathy that's gay, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Non-Graphic Violence, Pre-Relationship, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 16:25:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19213153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LailaLiquorice/pseuds/LailaLiquorice
Summary: Anne's nightmares bring her into Cathy's room in the middle of the night. Cathy's help ends up with the tables being turned.





	one more chance; one more breath

It wasn’t often that Cathy slept deeply enough to dream. Her style of functioning was to stay up late enough and make herself tired enough that she would fall asleep the minute her head hit the pillow every night, her imagination too worn out to keep on working overnight. Then she’d wake up the next morning still half-asleep and exhaust herself again over the course of the day so that the same cycle would repeat again and again.

She knew Anne had nightmares though. It had been a few weeks since their first conversation about Anne’s coping mechanisms, and since then she’d confided in Cathy about her occasional night terrors that no-one ever heard due to her having the attic bedroom. Kat’s were a lot more frequent, often prompting Jane to check on her in the night when they were at their worst, but Anne would just stay awake writing for the rest of the night whenever they happened for fear of reliving her death again if she fell back asleep. It explained the dark circles that Cathy would see under her eyes and her unusually quiet demeanour some mornings.

Cathy had promised Anne that she could come down into her bedroom if she was woken by a nightmare, joking that it was more than likely she’d still be awake to reassure Anne that she wouldn’t be disturbing her. She hadn’t needed to for a couple of weeks afterwards, but when Anne came down with a mild cold Cathy had made sure to repeat her promise in case her fever made the nightmares return in full force.

As she’d been anticipating, a timid knock on Cathy’s door at 2am caught her attention from where she’d been writing non-stop for a few hours. Upon opening the door she was faced with a barely kept-together Anne Boleyn, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and scared eyes shining bright with tears. “Can I come in?” she asked almost inaudibly, looking as though she was about to cry.

“Course you can,” Cathy said, standing back to let Anne shuffle past her into her bedroom. After shutting the door she sat down cross legged on her bed and patted the duvet for Anne to join her, waiting for her to sit down before she asked “Do you want to talk about it?”

Anne shrugged, sniffing and wiping her sleeve underneath her nose. Cathy leaned over to her bedside table for her box of tissues and offered it to Anne, who took one with a quiet murmur of thanks. She was quiet for another minute or so before she mumbled “I dreamed- I dreamed I was back in the Tower again. And it was really hot and the walls started closing in and no-one came when I was shouting. No-one came to let me out.” Her voice became more and more wobbly as she spoke, her breath hitching as she first tears started to fall.

“Come here,” Cathy murmured, and Anne practically threw herself into Cathy’s arms the minute she had verbal permission. There was no distraught sobbing like the last time Cathy had held her as she cried; the only sign she was upset at all was how much she was shaking in an effort to stifle her sobs, making Cathy wonder how many times she had cried alone in a desperate attempt not to wake anyone else up. She didn’t try to quiet her with gentle shushing, just let Anne hold onto her for as long as she needed to.

Just like the first time, she’d begun to wonder whether Anne was falling asleep before she heard a quiet “Can I stay here tonight?” from over her shoulder.

“Of course love,” Cathy said, her hand moving of its own accord to stroke Anne’s errant hair as she felt her finally relax. “Do you want to try and sleep again? I’m not done yet so I can wake you up if I think you’re dreaming again.”

Anne hummed indecisively as she sat back down, taking another tissue to wipe her tear-stained cheeks. “I don’t know,” she said quietly at first, wringing her hands as she looked up to meet Cathy’s gaze. “You sure I won’t be bothering you?”

Cathy shook her head. “Never. Come on, let’s get you into bed.”

Pulling her blanket with her, Anne crawled over to the other side of the double bed and wriggled under the duvet as Cathy fetched her notebook and pen. There was fear in her eyes as she looked up at up, obvious terror that she was going to see the inside of her prison as soon as she closed her eyes. “It’s alright, I’m right here,” Cathy said, smoothing Anne’s hair away from her forehead and feeling her temperature at the same time. She was still running a slight fever but it was nowhere near bad enough to cause her concern.

Anne nodded, her chin trembling for a second. “It’s always worse when I’m not well. I know if I’m overtired then it’ll be bad.”

“I don’t think that’s surprising, and it’s not your fault either,” Cathy said softly, squeezing Anne’s hand when she blinked back tears at her second point. “That’s why I mentioned earlier that you’re welcome to come in here if you need me.” She paused for a moment then before adding “If you’re still not feeling right tomorrow then would you like me to sleep in your room? It might stop the nightmares if you know someone’s there with you.”

“That’d be really nice,” Anne whispered. A stray tear rolled down her cheek which she quickly rubbed away, just about managing to smile up at her.

Cathy returned the smile, repositioning her own pillow against the headboard so she could lean back comfortably. “That’s what we’ll do then. Now try and get some sleep, I’ll be right here next to you.”

Anne nodded again, rolling onto her side facing Cathy and hesitating only a moment before she closed her eyes.

It wasn’t long before Anne’s rhythmic breathing indicated she was asleep again. Cathy kept on working by the light of her bedside lamp for another hour or so, watchful for any change in Anne’s peaceful expression that could indicate she was having another night terror. Only once did Cathy need to intervene when her brow pinched and she let out a soft whimper in her sleep, but she only had to cradle Anne’s hand in her own and call her name a couple of times for her to relax again.

When the clock on her phone read 3:30am she opted to call it a night, checking on Anne one last time before carefully settling down next to her. Anne’s sense of personal space had never been particularly strong but Cathy was still cautious to leave a decent space between them. Even though Anne had taken the leap of trusting her with her insecurities she didn’t want to infringe on her boundaries by sleeping too close, and if Cathy was honest with herself she didn’t know how she would react to waking up with Anne curled around her. She had always been fairly tactile since her reincarnation but with Anne it seemed to send her heart racing in a way she couldn’t understand.

But Anne didn’t seem to have moved at all when Cathy woke up a few hours later, still sleeping soundly with her blanket and Cathy’s duvet pulled tightly around her shoulders. With a fond smile, Cathy carefully slipped out from under the duvet and left a post-it note on her bedside lamp to tell Anne she’d gone down to the kitchen. She’d already been scheduled a day off from the show so Cathy was in no rush to wake her, happy to leave Anne in her bed until she woke up of her own accord.

As promised, when Cathy and the other Queens got home from the show that evening she changed into her pyjamas and took her makeup off before heading up into the attic.  Anne was sat in bed reading when she peered her head around the open door, but looked up with a smile when she saw Cathy looking in. “Hey you,” she greeted her, throwing back her duvet and jumping to her feet. She too looked as though she was ready for bed, dressed in an oversized t-shirt and sleep shorts with her hair plaited loosely down her back. “Come in, make yourself comfy. How’d the show go?”

“Brilliant thanks, everything went off without a hitch. We missed you though,” Cathy said as she closed the door behind her, the second comment slipping out without her realising it. “How are you feeling?” she added in a desperate attempt to cover her slip up.

Anne smirked, most likely at the blush that Cathy could feel creeping across her cheeks. “Aww, thanks,” she said, “And I’m doing alright. Ready for bed though, I can tell you that much. I’d have probably fallen asleep hours ago I wasn’t waiting up for you.”

Cathy glanced at her phone, noting with surprise that it was only 11:30. “I normally wouldn’t think about going to sleep for hours yet,” she admitted, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside Anne.

“Really?” Anne asked, laughing when Cathy gave a sheepish nod. “Don’t know how you do it, I really don’t. Aren’t you always tired?”

It was a question that Cathy was used to answering, but there was a note of genuine concern in Anne’s voice that made her smile. “Nearly always,” she replied honestly. “The key to success is taking random naps during the day. I’m surprised you don’t walk in on me curled up on the sofa more often.” She laughed as she finished, recalling the few times when she’d been woken to the sound of Kat or Anna dropping something and ending their well-meant attempts to stay quiet.

“Jane bans us from the living room whenever she knows that you’re asleep,” Anne explained, and Cathy made a note to thank their resident mum friend for safeguarding her nap times with her iron will. She was brought back to the present when Anne yawned widely and added with a grin “I think I might need to go to bed.”

“You might be right there,” Cathy agreed. “Perhaps it’ll do me good to get an early night too for a change, though I might be awake at 6am because of it.”

Anne laughed, crawling back into bed and pulling her duvet back up. Cathy stood awkwardly at the foot of the bed for a moment before Anne patted the pillow next to her, asking “You coming to bed?” as Cathy smiled and got in beside her.

As she’d expected, Anne was fast asleep within a few minutes of saying goodnight. Cathy was lying down scrolling through an article in her phone, expecting that she wouldn’t begin to feel sleepy for a while yet, but she was surprised when Anne suddenly rolled over in her sleep and rested her head in the crook of Cathy’s neck. For a moment she froze, very aware that she was only wearing a vest top and low-slung trousers, but then she relaxed under the gentle weight of Anne’s head and her arm slung across Cathy’s stomach. The text became blurrier and blurrier until Cathy’s phone clattered to the floor and she fell asleep.

And for the first time in a long time, Cathy dreamed.

_She recognised the place she was in as a home from her former life, but her hands were still the warm brown she had become accustomed to in her new body. For a reason unknown to her she felt compelled to pick up her heavy skirts and start to run down the corridor, her heart starting to hammer from both the running and the fear that she couldn’t put a label on. As if her instincts knew that something terrible was about to happen. But her feet didn’t drive her towards the King’s chambers; instead she practically flew down the castle staircase into the courtyard._

_The sound of shouting only drove her to run faster, careening around a corner to see a familiar face struggling to free herself from the grasp of several armed guards. Anne It was the face she knew in the dress of their past, but the furious swearing was a sure sign that this was her friend’s twenty-first century compartment rather than her Tudor self. She managed to elbow a guard in the face and kick another’s shin to grant herself a second’s freedom, but just as she was about to bolt she glanced upwards and locked eyes with Cathy. Her anger faded for a moment as she paused for a moment too long._

_The guards were on her in seconds. “Cathy help me!” she screamed, her voice panicked, and Cathy immediately moved forwards to help her only to find she was glued to the courtyard floor. She cried out Anne’s name as she tried desperately to reach for her, but Anne’s frantic efforts came to nothing as she guards multiplied from nowhere to surround her._

_There was a flash of metal, and then Anne sunk to the floor with a guttural scream. The guards dispersed to reveal her hunched over with blood pouring from her neck, staining her pale skin and pooling in the material in her dress. Cathy could still do nothing but watch in horror as Anne struggled to stem the scarlet river to no avail, hardly recognising the sound of her own desperate shouts as she watched her friend struggle for her life. She fell to her knees as her legs gave away, screaming and sobbing as Anne called her name in a broken voice._

“Cathy!”

She jolted forwards into a sitting position, chest heaving to pull air into her lungs as she clawed at her throat. Her skin was clammy and cold, face streaked with tears and forehead beaded with sweat. The suffocating darkness left her feeling completely untethered with no idea where she was, until a light was turned on and she was suddenly faced with an incredibly worried-looking Anne.

Her legs stilled from where she’d been trying to kick back the duvet tangled around her legs. Then she surged forwards and flung her arms around Anne’s neck. “You’re alive,” she sobbed out repeatedly, burying her head in Anne’s shoulder as she shook uncontrollably. Somewhere beneath the adrenaline coursing through her veins she felt gentle hands rub soothing circles into her upper back.

“Course I’m alive silly,” Anne whispered in her ear, waiting for her trembling to subside a little before she let Cathy sit back. “You just had a nightmare hun, you were shouting my name and thrashing around like mad. I’m alright, ok?”

Cathy hummed as she nodded, still feeling incredibly shaken as the dim lamplight shone illuminated the scar around Anne’s neck. “Yeah,” she said in a hollow voice, roughly wiping her eyes.

“You wanna tell me what happened?”

On one hand she didn’t, wishing she could forget her dream had ever happened and banish the image of Anne bleeding to death from her mind’s eye. But her mouth was moving and words were pouring out before she had a chance to shake her head. “I was at Hampton Court I think, can’t really remember. And I was running into the courtyard and you were there fighting the guards, they were trying to drag you away and I couldn’t move or do anything. Then your neck was cut and you were screaming and bleeding and I- and I-.”

Anne pulled her into another tight hug as her voice failed her, murmuring sweet nothings as Cathy clung to her like a lifeline. The feeling of solid arms around her was a comforting one and Cathy could have stayed forever in her embrace, reassuring herself that Anne really was ok and it had been nothing more than a bad dream.

After several minutes Anne leaned back, taking one of Cathy’s hands and brushing the back of her fingers over her scar. “I’m alright, see? Still attached,” Anne said with a smile, reaching out with her other hand to wipe away the fresh tears that spilled down Cathy’s cheeks. Cathy couldn’t remember crying so much since her reincarnation but felt no shame as she leaned into Anne’s touch, the lingering fear from her dream making her desperate for any physical contact that proved her friend really was still there and within reach. Her fingers on Anne’s neck felt somewhat intimate, humbled by the enormous step her friend was taking by letting her touch her scar when she kept it so carefully hidden from everyone else.

“Come on,” Anne murmured, moving to lie back down beneath the duvet. Cathy was about to just lie next to her when Anne tugged on her wrist and pulled her closer, snaking an arm around Cathy’s back as she hesitantly rested her head on Anne’s chest. “You hear that?” she asked, and when Cathy stopped focusing on her voice she heard and felt the gentle pulse of Anne’s heartbeat beneath her skin. “Long as you can hear that I’m still alive and I’m not going anywhere.”

The repetitive sound was enough to calm her own racing heart, understanding why Anne and Elizabeth had always found it such a comfort. “Sorry,” she said without thinking about it, forcing herself to continue even after Anne shook her head. “I came in here to help you with nightmares and now look at me.”

“S’alright,” Anne murmured in a voice impossibly gentle, her hand finding Cathy’s and her thumb gently smoothing over her knuckles. “Happens to the best of us eh?”

“Yeah,” Cathy breathed out with a muted chuckle. She was already becoming sleepy again, Anne’s unspoken repeat of her own promise the night before banishing the misgivings from her mind and pulling her back towards unconsciousness. “You’re warm,” she whispered after a while, aware of the fever heat being emitted from Anne’s skin.

Anne laughed lightly. “I’m not well,” she reminded her, adding on “I’m cold and you’re a good blanket though so don’t you dare move.”

Cathy hummed in agreement as Anne reached over to flicked the lamp back off, but the dark wasn’t so scary when Cathy had Anne’s touch and her heartbeat to keep her anchored into reality. When they eventually fell back asleep, they both had the most peaceful night of rest in each other’s arms than they’d had in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> This was intended to be the same length as my last Parrlyn oneshot, but here we are at literally double the wordcount. But these two are so soft and I love them so much, and this has the obvious continuation of these two having a sick day together when Cathy gets Anne's cold so that might be what I end up writing next lol.
> 
> I'm lailaliquorice on tumblr :)


End file.
